Every year, millions of dollars in damage is caused by downhill runaway or wind blown shopping carts. While efforts have been made to eliminate this problem, the efforts normally require active operation by the user of the shopping cart, such as flipping a lever, pulling a knob, or stepping on a latch or lever. Unfortunately, most people do not think to activate a braking mechanism once they are done with the shopping cart, and the unattended cart is then free to move about in accordance with environmental or gravity-induced conditions.
The present invention relates to an inexpensive automatic braking system for wheels of user manipulated vehicles such as shopping carts, wheelchairs, or other types of transport vehicles.